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Crash Bandicoot 5 cancelled in favour of live-service games, report claims

Crate Scott!

Crash Bandicoot™ 4: It’s About Time screenshot showing Crash walking upside down on the ceiling
Image credit: Activision

A new report on Toys for Bob has claimed Crash Bandicoot 5 was cancelled in favour of live-service online games.

The report comes from gaming historian Liam Robertson, who revealed this Crash Bandicoot game would have been a single-player 3D platformer, which would serve as a direct sequel to Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time.

While that is all much to be expected, Robertson's video also featured concept art and potential story ideas for the Crash sequel, including a Spyro team up. "Crash and Spyro were intended to be the two playable characters," Robertson said.

Crash Bandicoot Remaster Gameplay - New Crash Bandicoot Gameplay on PS4.Watch on YouTube

However, when Crash 5 was still in the very early days of development, it was cancelled by publisher Activision in favour of live-service multiplayer games.

Allegedly, Activision considered Crash Bandicoot 4's sales to be underwhelming. After that, team members were then moved on to work on other titles, including Crash Team Rumble, which was released last year. This particular game failed to ignite much interest, however, and in March it was announced that no further content would be released.

Crash Bandicoot 5: The Cancelled Spyro Crossover & The Fall of Crash Team Rumble. Watch on YouTube

As for Toys for Bob - which along with Crash Bandicoot and Spyro is also known for Skylanders - the studio announced it was parting ways with Activision to become an independent company again back in January. Then in March of this year, it was claimed a new entry in the Spyro series was in development with Toys for Bob.

The studio once again got tongues wagging in May, when Toys for Bob updated its website with a new logo, leading to further fan speculation of a new Crash Bandicoot or Spyro game.

In the meantime, you can currently get your hands on the Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy via Xbox Game Pass.

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